Reports are surfacing that famed American jeweller to the stars Jacob Arabo and his company Jacob and Co have been implicated in illegal gold mining in Swaziland. According to reports an employee of the company is currently being held by the police for possession of 27kg of illegal gold bullion.

According to reports the company have been illegally mining gold in Lufafa Mountains in Swaziland, the company is permitted to prospect for gold in the area but not to mine. Jacob and Co are licenced to mine for the precious metal in the Northern Hhohho area of the country in accordance with the governments regulations. According to reports any gold found in the Lufafa Mountains region must be reported and turned over to the local authorities which Jocob and Co have failed to do.

Whether any charges will or could be brought against Mr Arabo for his companies reported actions is currently unclear but Mr Arabo has had previous brushes with the law when he was convicted for money laundering in 2008 and served two years in prison.

In contrast, Umicore, one of our authorised partners have cut down on their mining efforts all together and are focusing more and more on recycling or ‘Urban mining’.

‘Urban mining’ involves reclaiming scrap gold from used and discarded electronics. It takes 3-4 tonnes of electronics to produce 1 kilo of gold whereas to produce the same amount of gold from mining in the ground you would have to process 200 tonnes of rock and earth.

Does ‘Urban mining’ appear to be the future of the gold industry rather than the traditional more inefficient mining techniques?